Recap: Supernatural Episode 7.02, Hello Cruel World

OFFICIAL CW description: Castiel (Misha Collins) continues to struggle with the burdens that come with his new-fangled power. The broken wall in Sam’s (Jared Padalecki) head causes him to have hallucinations, and he has difficulty discerning what’s real and what’s not. Bobby (Jim Beaver) worries that Dean is beginning to stumble under the weight of fighting Castiel and keeping an eye on Sam. Guy Bee directed the episode written by Ben Edlund.

The Ramble

Oh. My. Bleeding. Heart. You boys…you’re killing me.

And now we have to wait a WEEK?!

I can actually feel the blood pumping through my body. I haven’t been worked up about an episode–heck, scratch that, a season–in over a year. I am wary of speaking too soon, but so far? I feel like whatever bugs they had to work out of their collective systems with the “experimental” season six have been exorcised because these first two episode have so far worked beautifully for yours truly. Even things I was wary about (concerning storylines or the lack thereof) due to conversations shared over the hiatus haven’t really troubled me. So far.

I think part of that is that we have our brothers back. I’m pumped now, man. The story is really working for me. So far.

In the THEN they always give away a key piece of story — usually a guest star — but this time, they showed Sam cutting his hand on the piece of glass covered with Purgatory glass and I found myself thinking, “Hmmm. Interesting, that.” I’ll come back to that, though. Before I pick up on the NOW, I have to rewind my thoughts to the title card — which is still made of awesome. I had been thinking “ink” when I saw the black dripping down from the letters. And, technically, it still could be, Leviathans being ancient creatures of the deep and all. At least in the quick mythology I googled, anyway.

But several astute commenters of last week’s Ramble noted that it was the same black stuff that came out of The Mother Of All when she died and so now I’m thinking: Purgatory Ooze. Still. Looks pretty cool.

So! We pick up right where we left off, Dean on the ground, hand bleeding, bell rung, looking up at LeviCas. He shifts his eyes over to Bobby–sprawled out and down for the count–then calls his friends name in a thin, anxious voice. Bobby, thankfully, stirs so Dean looks back up at LeviCas, who is staring curiously at his hands.

Dean wants to know how many Leviathans are in there and suddenly we see that LeviCas is dripping black ooze from his hands and hairline.

Dean: Vessel’s gonna explode, innit? Wouldn’t do anything too strenuous. In fact, I’d call it a day and head home.

He staggers off and Bobby sits up, gingerly, muttering, “Well, that was a new one.”

LeviCas leaves Autopsy 101, walking like a zombie. Meanwhile, it’s like old times for Sam–he’s being strangled by Lucifer in some other room. Doesn’t quite explain how the jar of blood got left in the middle of the hallway, but we’ll let that go. Sam’s choking out that Luci’s not real, but Luci begs to differ.

Luci: You came back with no soul and some peppy-American Psycho named St. Dean glues you back together again by buying you some magic amnesia?

You know what I couldn’t help but think about at this moment? This is all in Sam’s head, right? It’s his psychosis from the damage done to his noggin in the Cage. So these thoughts are technically coming from him. And that one statement from Hallucifer had me rubbing my heart for a few reasons. I mean, one, Sam doesn’t appear to think much about the Wall that they used to try to keep him in one piece, calling it ‘magic amnesia.’ Two, his subconscious mocks his brother’s efforts to save him by calling him St. Dean. Hallucifer is Robo!Sam all over again. It’s Robo!Sam in the only way Sam could assimilate him — his worst enemy. His “bunk buddy” in the Cage.

This unreality haunting Sam is almost painful to watch — not just because of what it does to Dean’s brother, but because of the whole thought process behind it. Imagine all our doubts…the things we try every day not to let ourselves think…come to life, personified by the one person who brings us the most pain. I know who my Hallucifer would be, sadly. And the amount of insecurities I carry? Gah. She could tear me up in seconds. Talk about Hell. No thanks. I’ll stick with the drink-it-away-and-tough-my-way-through-it approach Dean has mastered. The other way is…too horrifying to contemplate.

Hallucifer stops strangling Sam long enough to tell him that reality = set dressing, telling Sam he’s his “little bitch, in every sense of the word.” But then as Sam is looking rather sick, Hallucifer turns into Dean, calling Sam’s name and looking all levels of worried.Dean: We gotta button this thing up; let’s get out of here.

I know they had to get after LeviCas, and everyone was hurt and hurried, but I do wish they’d addressed the whole, where the hell were you, question about Sam just…disappearing…and leaving the blood jar behind. Not in an accusatory way. In a worried-about-him way. But that’s just because I want ALL THE DETAILS. It’s not important for the overall flow of the story. This time.

Gaelicspirit is a storyteller. She is a recent addition to Whedonverse Network, but has been writing and posting recap/reviews of Supernatural on LiveJournal since 2007. She works as a freelance writer and consultant in the real world, and is ever-connected to the six-degrees of Joss Whedon.

Related

Gaelicspirit

Gaelicspirit is a storyteller. She is a recent addition to Whedonverse Network, but has been writing and posting recap/reviews of Supernatural on LiveJournal since 2007. She works as a freelance writer and consultant in the real world, and is ever-connected to the six-degrees of Joss Whedon.